External Research Associate
Research Keywords:
Digital, feminist and socio-cultural anthropology; global political economy; masculinity and mental health; social justice and governance
Research Region(s):
Bangladesh, South Asia
Research Diaspora(s):
Dr. Husain completed his doctoral and postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia, where he received the university’s Future Alumnus Award.
His research intersects digital, feminist and socio-cultural anthropology in broad thematic areas of global political economy, masculinity and mental health, and social justice and governance, seeking to create bridges among research and practice. His lived and professional experiences, in particular, at the World Bank, in the Global South function as the precursors for his community-led, participant-driven and visual participatory action research interests.
Dr. Husain’s ongoing SSHRC-funded research examines how Muslim subjects’ masculinities are shaped by the inter-generational, inter-male dominance in a diasporic context and the ways in which these emergent masculinities reshape mental health.
Presently, Dr. Husain is working on two book manuscripts: i) investigating recuperative masculinity: Success and Masculinity in Muslim Men of Colour: Diaspora and Mental Health of Canadian Youth (under contract by Palgrave Macmillan), and ii) exploring mental well-being across gender stream: Unquiet Minds: Agency, inclusivity, and mental health in racialized Muslim Canadian Youth (under contract by the University of Toronto Press).
Dr. Husain’s work features in a range of journal articles, book chapters and edited volumes as well as received press coverage in The Times Higher Education.
Dr. Husain’s latest monograph, Development, Neoliberalism, and Islamism in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh (Macmillan 2022) offers a unique perspective on neoliberal policies leading to social change in the Bangladeshi state by contributing to the othering, impacting industries such as migration and development, and shaping the daily lives of the people.
The book has been reviewed widely by reputed peer-reviewed journals such as Contemporary South Asia, Economic and Political Weekly, and Canadian Journal of Development Studies, among others.